Finding or advertising a teaching job on Twitter with #teachingvacancyuk

I have got two of my last three positions by asking on Twitter if anyone wants a traditionalist maths teacher. This hasn’t always worked, but if you have enough followers it might. Generally, however, Twitter is not great for finding employment because while people do tweet adverts or tweet that they are available for work, the tweets are unlikely to be seen by those they want to see them.

What we need is a shared format that can be used by those advertising positions, that can then be easily searched by those looking for positions. I’ve been experimenting with this for a bit and I thought it was time to get this going properly. Some words of warning first.

1. This idea will only work if a large number of people use it. This means that if it doesn’t work the first time people try it, then people give up, it will fail. If it’s going to work then a good number of people will have to stick with it for a few months, maybe try it for a year. If you are an early adopter, whether that’s an employer or a teacher, you have my warning now, it probably won’t work the first time. Also, we will need to publicise this. Please share this post frequently.
2. You will need to read the instructions and explanation, rather than copy what you see other people doing. The whole point is to make your job tweets easily found on a search. If you do not get the right search terms, it will not work. “mathematics” and “maths” are the same thing when you read them in a tweet, but employers need to know which one people will be searching for; teachers need to know which one to search for. (It’s “Maths”, by the way).

So here’s how it will work.

Instructions for those advertising vacancies in teaching.

To advertise a teaching job on twitter, use the following format:

#teachingvacancyuk
One word description (see below)
Region (see below)
Link to your vacancy
By: Closing date for applications
For: Starting date
Other details

Here are what all these mean:

#teachingvacancyuk: This is the hashtag people will search for in order to find positions advertised in this format.

One word description: This should be the main feature of the job and is likely to be either the sector (for non subject specialist), the subject (for secondary or FE), or the position (for promoted posts). For consistency pick from this list if possible.

• EYFS
• Primary
• Special
• AP/PRU
• Art
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Drama
• Economics
• Engineering
• English
• FoodTechnology
• Geography
• History
• ICT/Computing
• MFL
• Maths
• Music
• PhysicalEducation
• PSHE/Citizenship
• ReligiousEducation
• Physics
• Psychology
• ProductDesign
• ResistantMaterials
• Science
• SEN
• EAL
• MediaStudies
• Business
• HeadOFYear
• SMT
• Headteacher

If your position covers more than one of these search terms, don’t worry, use both. If it’s definitely not on the list, tell me. The key thing here is that people will be searching for these terms.

Region: The region should be from this list:

• EastMidlands
• EastofEngland
• London
• NorthEast
• NorthWest
• NorthernIreland
• Scotland
• SouthEast
• SouthWest
• WalesNorth
• WalesSouth
• WestMidlands
• YorkshireAndTheHumber
• Overseas

Again, these are to help searching, so just pick whichever region sounds most like where you are. You can pick more than one, it doesn’t have to be precise. Whatever is most likely to be searched for by somebody who could work at your school.

NEVER split these search terms into separate words. eg. “West Midlands” rather than “WestMidlands”!

Link to your vacancy: This should be the URL for an advert for your position. It may be to a website linked to publication like the TES or Schools Week, or another jobs website, or it may be on your school website.

By: Closing date for applications: This is not going to be searched for, so put it in whatever format gives the key information. “Get in touch by DM for details” would be fine.

For: Starting date: This is not going to be searched for, so put it in whatever format gives the key information. “As soon as possible” would be fine.

Other Details:  This should be anything you think is essential (key stage, type of school, town/city, county/LA, full or part time) but should be as brief as possible and carefully chosen to avoid using words that have any overlap with the words already listed as that will make searching difficult. You are doing two things with the “other” section: encouraging appropriate people to follow the link, and filtering out those who will not be interested. This is what you want people to know before they click the link to your advert. So if you want somebody who can teach A-level, or somebody who can get to Oldham, or China, here’s where it goes.

So here’s (roughly) what it should look like. (Please ignore the way WordPress seems to be joining up the job description and the URL, click on the tweets to see what they look like).

#teachingvacancyuk
Science
WestMidlands
Apply now: https://t.co/keGeJxDQ3O
By: 26 Jan 2018
For: asap or NQTs September
Full time

— Plantsbrook School (@PlantbrkSchool) January 10, 2018

Or:

#teachingvacancyuk
Primary
WestMidlandshttps://t.co/mxQiwu6xsa
26 Jan 2018
For: April 2018
Trust LA School. Sandwell. Cradley Heath. Traditional & Evidence Based Ethos. 1yr Fixed Term Maternity Cover. pic.twitter.com/ywWskLmnQ8

— Craig Westby (@eggegg80) December 14, 2017

#teachingvacancyuk
Northwest
Secondary
Headofyearhttps://t.co/OfjQ47Lsp3
25 January
Start Sep 2018

— MEACentral (@MEAcentral) January 13, 2018

Just remember, it is all about being searchable. Use the right format for the one word description and the region and try not to add anything that might be searched for by mistake. And, again, please don’t give up if it doesn’t work the first time. It should work eventually, so please keep trying whenever you have a position to advertise.

Instructions for those seeking vacancies in teaching.

Use the Twitter search function. In one search, search for #teachingvacancyuk, a one word description of the position (see below) and the region (see below).

Pick the one word description of the position from this list:

• EYFS
• Primary
• Special
• AP/PRU
• Art
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Economics
• Engineering
• English
• FoodTechnology
• Geography
• History
• ICT/Computing
• MFL
• Maths
• Music
• PhysicalEducation
• PSHE/Citizenship
• ReligiousEducation
• Drama
• Physics
• Psychology
• ProductDesign
• ResistantMaterials
• SEN
• EAL
• MediaStudies
• Business
• SMT
• Headteacher

Pick the region from this list:

• EastMidlands
• EastofEngland
• London
• NorthEast
• NorthWest
• NorthernIreland
• Scotland
• SouthEast
• SouthWest
• WalesNorth
• WalesSouth
• WestMidlands
• YorkshireAndTheHumber
• Overseas

So for instance, if you are looking for a primary position and you live in Birmingham, type

#teachingvacancyuk Primary WestMidlands

Then choose “latest” rather than “top”.

And you should get this, which is hopefully what you are looking for.

The odds are that you will not find any appropriate positions the first time you try this. Please don’t give up, keep trying.

Instructions for those who want to help.

Please share this blogpost. Not just once, but loads of times. Reblog it, tweet it, rewrite it in your own words if you like and put it on your blog. just get it out there. You have my permission to quote some or all of the text in this blog as long as you are using it to promote the correct use of the hashtag. It will only work if enough people use it.

Another way to promote it would be to search for “#teachingvacancyuk” and share any adverts you think your followers might be interested in. If this helps increase the responses, it will encourage employers to keep using it.

Also feedback is welcome. If you do make suggestions, remember that it is all about being able to search, not being as accurate as possible, but being accurate enough to search and get a result. And, if you see people using the hashtag but not getting the format correct, tell them.

Finally, if you wish to design a website or form for searching or writing adverts in the right format, go ahead, and I will share it. Anything that makes the process easier will be great. Thanks.